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NORTH SIDE

NORTH SIDE

Lincoln Park is located in Chicago’s North Side. Named after Lincoln Park, a vast park bordering Lake Michigan, the community area is anchored by the Lincoln Park Zoo and DePaul University. Lincoln Park is bordered by the community areas of Lakeview to the north, North Center to the northwest, Logan Square to the west, West Town to the southwest, and Near North to the south. Lincoln Park's boundaries are precisely defined in the city's list of official community areas. It is bordered on the north by Diversey Parkway, on the west by the Chicago River, on the south by North Avenue, and on the east by Lake Michigan.

It encompasses a number of neighborhoods, including Lincoln Central, Mid-North, Old Town Triangle, Park West, RANCH Triangle, Sheffield, West DePaul and Wrightwood Neighbors. The area also includes most of the Clybourn Corridor retail district, which continues into the Near North Side.

Lincoln Park is home to Lincoln Park High School, Francis W. Parker School, and DePaul University. Many students who attend these schools now live in this neighborhood. Lincoln Park is also home to four architecturally significant churches: St. Vincent de Paul Parish, St. Clement Church, St. Josaphat's (one of the many so-called 'Polish Cathedrals' in Chicago), and St. Michael's Church in the Old Town Triangle area of Lincoln Park. Visible from throughout the neighborhood, these monumental edifices tower over the neighborhood, lending the area much of its charm. The neighborhood also houses Children's Memorial Hospital and the currently closed Lincoln Park Hospital, which is slated for redevelopment to condominiums, medical offices, retail and commercial to be renamed Webster Square.

The neighborhood contains large number of national retailers, boutiques, bookstores, restaurants and coffee shops. An Apple Store opened in October, 2010, as well as a Lacoste store across the street. There are also many bars and clubs in the area, especially along Lincoln Avenue between Wrightwood and Webster.

Lincoln Park, for which the neighborhood was named, now stretches miles past the neighborhood of Lincoln Park. The park lies along the lakefront from Ohio Street Beach in the Streeterville neighborhood, northward to Ardmore Avenue in Edgewater. The section of Lincoln Park adjacent to the Lincoln Park neighborhood contains the Lincoln Park Zoo, Lincoln Park Conservatory, an outdoor theatre, a rowing canal, the Chicago History Museum, the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, ponds, North Avenue Beach, playing fields, a very prominent statue of General Grant, as well as, a famous statue of Abraham Lincoln (and many other statues).

The Lincoln Park neighborhood is accessible via mass transit, including the CTA's Red, Brown and Purple lines at the Fullerton station, the Purple and Brown lines at the Armitage and Diversey stations, as well as CTA bus service. Via car, Lincoln Park can be reached by using Lake Shore Drive or Interstate 90/94.

This area now known as Lincoln Park was primarily forest with stretches of grassland and occasional quicksand until the late 1820s when the Europeans arrived. In 1824 the United States Army built a small post near today's Clybourn Avenue and Armitage Avenue (formerly Centre Street). Indian settlements existed along Green Bay Trail, now called Clark Street (named after George Rogers Clark), at the current intersection of Halsted Street and Fullerton Avenue. Before Green Bay Trail became Clark Street, it stretched as far as Green Bay, Wisconsin, and was part of what still is Green Bay Avenue in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin.

In 1836, land from North to Fullerton and from the lake to Halsted was relatively inexpensive, costing $150 per acre ($370 ha) / 1836 prices, not adjusted for inflation). Because the area was considered remote, a small pox hospital and the city cemetery were located in Lincoln Park until the 1860s.

In 1837, Chicago was incorporated as a city, and North Avenue (to the south of today's Lincoln Park neighborhood) was established as its northern boundary. Settlements increased along Green Bay Trail when (1) the government offered land claims and (2) Green Bay Road was widened. The area north of Chicago, including today's Lincoln Park, was eventually incorporated as Lake View Township. The city, nonetheless, owned extensive tracts of land north of North Avenue, including what is the now the park. The Township was annexed to Chicago in 1889. In the period following the Civil War, the area around St. Josaphat's parish around Southport and Clybourn was home to Chicago's Kashubian community, who although Polish in national orientation, possess their own distinct culture and language marked by the distinct influences of their maritime way of life as well as their German neighbors. Lincoln Park was home to L. Frank Baum (author of "The Wizard of Oz," from which Oz Park takes its name), Buckminster Fuller and the controversial outsider artist, Henry Darger, who worked as a janitor at Children's Memorial Hospital.

In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, Lincoln Park was also home to the first Puerto Rican immigrants to Chicago. Jose (Cha-Cha) Jimenez transformed the local Young Lords gang into human rights activists for Latinos and the poor. They mounted sit-ins and takeovers of institutions and churches at Grant Hospital, Armitage Ave. Methodist Church, and McCormick Theological Seminary.

In 1968 a violent confrontation between demonstrators and police took place in Lincoln Park and the streets of Chicago during the week of the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

I pointed out that it was in the best interests of the City to have us in Lincoln Park ten miles away from the Convention hall. I said we had no intention of marching on the Convention hall, that I didn't particularly think that politics in America could be changed by marches and rallies, that what we were presenting was an alternative life style, and we hoped that people of Chicago would come up, and mingle in Lincoln Park and see what we were about.—Abbie Hoffman, from the Chicago 7 trial.

Lake View, or Lakeview, is located in the city's North Side. It is bordered by West Diversey Parkway on the south, West Irving Park Road on the north, North Ravenswood Avenue on the west, and the shore of Lake Michigan on the east. The Uptown community area is to Lake View's north, Lincoln Square to its northwest, North Center to its west and Lincoln Park to its south. The 2000 population of Lake View was 94,817 residents, making it the second largest of the Chicago community areas by population, following Austin which has 117,527 residents. Lake View, though, has a higher population density than the larger (area-wise) Austin neighborhood. Lake View is unofficially divided into smaller neighborhood enclaves: Lakeview East, West Lakeview and Wrigleyville. Wrigleyville surrounds Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs. New Town, a name for the area centered at the intersection of North Clark Street and West Diversey Parkway, was a commonly encountered appellation in the 1970s and 1980s but has fallen into disuse. The Northalsted Merchants Association is centered on the North Halsted Street strip between West Belmont Avenue and West Irving Park Road on Halsted. Lake View was used as a camp and trail path for the Miami, Ottawa, and Winnebago Native American tribes. In 1837, Conrad Sulzer of Winterthur, Zürich, Switzerland, became the first white settler to live in the area. In 1853, one of the first permanent structures was built by James Rees and Elisha Hundley on the corner where present-day West Byron Street (or West Sheridan Road) meets North Lake Shore Drive and was called the Hotel Lake View, named for the hotel's unobstructed view of the shore of Lake Michigan. It gained what was characterized as a resort atmosphere.

The early settlement continued to grow, especially because of increased immigration of farming families from Germany, Luxembourg and Sweden. Lake View experienced a population boom as Chicago suffered a deadly and devastating cholera outbreak. The Hotel Lake View served as refuge for many Chicagoans but became filled to capacity. Homestead lands were sold and housing was built. Access to the new community was provided by a wooden plank road connected to present-day West Fullerton Parkway, which was called Lake View Plank Road and is the present-day North Broadway. With infrastructure and growing population, residents realized it was time to organize formal governance to provide essential public services.

During the Civil War, the present-day bustling intersection of North Broadway, North Clark Street and West Diversey Parkway was home to Camp Fry. When the camp opened in May 1864, it served as a training facility for the volunteer 132nd and 134th Illinois Infantry regiments. Shortly after their deployment to Columbus, Kentucky, the camp was converted to a prison for Confederate soldiers, where conditions were markedly different from those of many other prisoner-of-war camps. The few residents of the area known as Lake View Township often complained of rebel sing-alongs held in the camp from time to time.

Lake View's early industry was farming, especially crops of celery, and at the time it was considered a celery-growing capital. From 1870 to 1887 the population of the township grew from 2,000 citizens to 45,000. As a result, there was growing need of more public-service access, and Lake View was absorbed into Chicago in 1889 as a way of meeting those demands. In 1889, a real estate boom became a major economic stimulant. According to the Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce, over forty percent of the neighborhood's present-day buildings were constructed during that time.

West Addison Street was named after Thomas Addison, an English doctor who first described Addison's disease West Barry Avenue was named after the commander of the Continental Navy ship Lexington during the Revolutionary War, John Barry. West Belmont Avenue was named after the American Civil War's Battle of Belmont on November 7, 1861, in Mississippi County, Missouri. North Broadway, which used to be called Evanston Avenue after the nearby municipality of Evanston, Illinois, was renamed after Broadway in New York City. North Clark Street was named after the legendary frontier explorer George Rogers Clark. West Diversey Parkway was named after beer brewer Michael Diversey. William Butler Ogden, the first mayor of Chicago, named North Halsted Street after financiers William H. and Caleb Halsted. It was formerly called Dyer Street, in honor of Thomas Dyer, mayor of Chicago. West Irving Park Road was named after the author Washington Irving. Philip Sheridan features prominently on the corner of West Belmont Avenue and North Lake Shore Drive, memorialized as a towering statue depicting Sheridan on horseback. The U.S. Army general is the namesake of North Sheridan Road. In 1871 he brought troops to Chicago in the aftermath of the Great Chicago Fire and was authorized by Mayor Joseph Medill to take control of the city under martial law. He was later made commanding general of the U.S. Army by President Chester A. Arthur.

Lakeview East is territorially defined by its chamber of commerce as the area between North Clark Street and North Halsted Street to the west, West Grace Street to the north and West Diversey Parkway to the south, bounded by North Lake Shore Drive to the east. The entire Lakeview East area is often considered colloquially as Boystown, the pre-eminent gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community of Chicago. Some Lakeview East streets are decorated with rainbow flags indicative of that population.

Lakeview East, especially along the Lake Shore Drive and Broadway corridors, consists of condominiums and mid-rise apartments and lofts. Small businesses, boutiques, restaurants and community institutions are found along North Broadway and North Halsted Street.

Gentrification, diversification and population shift have changed Lake View, with many businesses expanding northward of West Belmont Avenue. Larger businesses such as Borders, Whole Foods and World Market are moving into the neighborhood, and enclosed shopping centers such as Century Shopping Centre have been created. Another shopping center has included such tenants as Michaels, Marshalls and Designer Shoe Warehouse. Historic churches remain preserved as integral parts of the community, such as Lake View Presbyterian Church and Saint Peter's Episcopal Church. Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church is the residence of an episcopal vicar and auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago. Two residential neighborhood organizations are included in the Lakeview East area. Belmont Harbor Neighbors comprises the area bounded by West Belmont Avenue, North Halsted Street, West Addison Street, and Lake Michigan. South East Lake View Neighbors encompasses the area bounded by West Diversey Parkway, North Halsted Street, West Belmont Avenue, and Lake Michigan.

West Lakeview, a part of which is sometimes called North Lakeview, is located along the border of the Roscoe Village community area. West Lakeview Neighbors, a residential organization, defines West Lakeview as the area bounded by West Addison Street on the north, West Belmont Avenue on the south, North Southport Avenue on the east and North Ravenswood Avenue on the west. Affordable real estate and popular culture, such as that found along busy Southport Avenue, draws people from all over the city for quiet living or casual dining. A historic destination that opened on August 22, 1929, is the Music Box Theatre, which opened as a new technology sound film venue. The theater brands itself today as "Chicago's year-round film festival"

Formerly a working-class neighborhood, Wrigleyville is the nickname to the neighborhood directly surrounding Wrigley Field, which is more commonly referred to as Central Lakeview. Central Lakeview's borders run from Diversey Parkway and Irving Park Road, to Halsted Street and Racine Avenue. Wrigleyville features low-rise brick buildings and houses, some with rooftop bleachers colloquially called Wrigley Rooftops where people can purchase seats to watch baseball games or concerts that, while generally more expensive than tickets for seats within the park itself, come with all you can eat and drink service. Proprietors are able to do so under special agreements with the Chicago Cubs organization. Many Wrigleyville bars and restaurants (particularly on North Clark Street) feature sports-oriented themes. Bars such as Sluggers, Murphy's Bleachers, Casey Moran's, Roadhouse 66, Sports Corner and The Cubby Bear host the Cubs crowds near the Wrigley Field intersection of North Clark Street and West Addison Street. A majority of Lake View's public transportation needs are met by the Chicago Transit Authority, which provides resident and visitor access to the Red Line, Purple Line and Brown Line services of the Chicago Elevated railway rapid transit. The two major Lake View rapid-transit hubs are Addison Station and Belmont Station. The Chicago Transit Authority also operates numerous bus routes in Lake View, the busiest being those running along North Lake Shore Drive with express services to downtown Chicago, including the Loop, via North Michigan Avenue and its Magnificent Mile. Bus routes entering and leaving Lake View include those designated as 8 Halsted, 9 Ashland, 22 Clark, 36 Broadway, 77 Belmont, 134 Stockton–LaSalle Express, 135 Clarendon–LaSalle Express, 136 Sheridan–LaSalle Express, 143 Stockton–Michigan Express, 144 Marine–Michigan Express, 145 Wilson–Michigan Express, 146 Inner Drive Express, 147 Outer Drive Express, 148 Clarendon–Michigan Express, 151 Sheridan, 152 Addison, 154 Wrigley Field Express and 156 LaSalle.

Private entities also offer many transportation services. I-GO and Zipcar have several locations in Lake View. Private companies offer trolley and bus services to certain destinations in the city from Lake View. Taxi and limousine services are plentiful in the Lake View area, as well as non-traditional modes of transportation. Bicycle rickshaws can be found especially near Wrigley Field. Bike paths are also available on some major streets. For those who prefer to walk or run, manicured walking and running paths are found throughout the community area, with a special path designed for Chicago Marathon training along the lakefront.

The Chicago Marathon training path curves around the Belmont Harbor marina, belonging to the Chicago Park District and managed by contracted companies. There are ten transient slips, several stalls, and finger dock, star dock, and other mooring facilities where boats and yachts can be kept. It is the home of the Belmont Yacht Club. A major portion of the Bank of America (formerly LaSalle Bank) Chicago Marathon, one of the largest road races in the world, takes place along the northern end of Lakeview East. The marathon packs spectators onto the sidewalks of Lake View to cheer race competitors. Lake View's stretch of North Lake Shore Drive is also the turnaround point for the annual Bike the Drive noncompetitive bicycle event.

Lake View hosts many art events. Each spring, the Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce supports gallery tour groups, taking participants through several area art galleries. September brings visitors to the Lakeview East Festival of the Arts on North Broadway between West Belmont Avenue and West Roscoe Street. More than 150 juried artists exhibit their works along with live entertainment, fine food and a variety of performers.

Paramount among Lake View's events, drawing the largest crowds, is the annual Chicago Gay Pride Parade held on the last Sunday of each June along North Broadway, North Halsted Street, and West Diversey Parkway. In addition, for one weekend each August, the North Halsted Street corridor is closed off to automobile traffic for Northalsted Market Days, a popular street fair featuring nationally prominent bands and other entertainment. Food and merchandise booths line the temporary pedestrian thoroughfare.

Lake View hosts a solemn vigil and march each October, gathering at the intersection of West Roscoe and North Halsted streets, in honor of Matthew Shepard.

Small but popular Lake View events take place throughout the year. Each July, the Lakeview Garden Walk takes visitors on trolley tours and walks throughout the neighborhood to over eighty garden exhibits. Each exhibit is prepared and presented by individual residents of Lake View. Once an event that focused on West Lakeview gardens, the exhibits now span the entire Lake View area. Families with children are drawn to Nettelhorst Elementary School on Easter weekend for an egg hunt and visit with the Easter bunny. They return on Halloween weekend for a costume parade and story-telling.

Halloween is also the time for a major costume competition that takes place on North Halsted, from Belmont to Cornelia, with an annual theme and categories from children and pets to adult groups from humorous to scary.

North Center is bordered on the north by Montrose Avenue, on the south by Diversey Parkway, on the west by the Chicago River and on the east by Ravenswood Avenue; it includes the neighborhoods of Northcenter, Roscoe Village, St. Ben's, and Hamlin Park. The Brown Line of the Chicago 'L' has stops within the community area at Addison, Irving Park and Montrose.

North Center was settled in the latter part of the 19th century and the early 20th century largely by Germans who worked in what is known as the industrial corridor along Ravenswood Avenue, and the large industrial plants along the Chicago River to the west.

The neighborhood known as Northcenter refers to a neighborhood in the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Boundaries of Northcenter are Addison on the south, Montrose on the north, the Chicago River on the west and Ravenswood (1800 W) on the east.

Northcenter has grown since the 1870s when the area was only accessible by the Chicago River and Little Fort Road (now known as Lincoln Avenue). Northcenter is considered a vibrant neighborhood with an eclectic mix of retailers, restaurants, live music, live theater, and service-oriented businesses.

NORTH SIDE

NORTH SIDE

Northcenter’s history is deeply rooted in European cultural influences, and that history can be seen in the architectural charm of the homes and buildings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Also during this time, the Selig Polyscope Company produced some of America's earliest motion pictures and was based in Chicago. Along Byron Street near Oakley Ave and Western Ave, historic production buildings of the company are still standing and being used as residences and retail businesses. The neighborhood continues to grow and become more culturally diverse. The neighborhood includes bowling alleys, three city parks - including an indoor ice arena, a nearby library, a nearby movie theater complex, and Northcenter Town Square. The Northcenter Chamber of Commerce hosts many free family and community events throughout the year. Northcenter Town Square is also home to a Farmer's Market on Saturdays from June to October.

Roscoe Village refers to a neighborhood in the North Side. While not part of any official city map, Chicago residents perceive the boundaries of the neighborhood to be Addison Street to the north, Belmont Avenue to the south, Ravenswood Avenue to the east and the Chicago River to the west. The primary feature of Roscoe Village is Roscoe Street, which bisects the neighborhood's boundaries between Addison Street and Belmont Avenue. Roscoe Street is populated by businesses and residents. Local historian and longtime neighborhood resident Chuck Betzold notes that people have been living in Roscoe Village since the 18th century, when the area was inhabited by the Fox Indians.

Uptown has well defined boundaries. They are: Foster on the north; Lake Michigan on the east; Montrose (Ravenswood to Clark), and Irving Park (Clark to Lake Michigan) on the south; Ravenswood (Foster to Montrose), and Clark (Montrose to Irving Park) on the west. Uptown borders three community areas and Lake Michigan. To the north is Edgewater, to the west is Lincoln Square, and to the south is Lake View.

The historical, cultural, and commercial center of Uptown is Broadway, with Uptown Square at the center. In 1900, the Northwestern Elevated Railroad constructed its terminal near Montrose and Broadway (now part of the CTA Red Line). Uptown became a summer resort town for downtown dwellers, and derived its name from the Uptown Store, which was the commercial center for the community. For a time, all northbound trains from downtown ended in Uptown. From here Uptown became known as an entertainment destination. Charlie Chaplin, Gloria Swanson and other early film stars produced films at the Essanay Studios on Argyle Street. The Aragon Ballroom, Riviera Theater, Uptown Theatre, and Green Mill Jazz Club are all located within a half block of Lawrence and Broadway. Uptown is also home to one of Chicago's most celebrated final resting spots, Graceland Cemetery.

The Uptown neighborhood boundary once extended farther to the North, to Hollywood Avenue. Beginning at the turn of the 20th Century, just after the World's Columbian Exposition, the entire area had experienced a housing construction boom. In the mid 1920s, construction of large and luxurious entertainment venues resulted in many of the ornate and historic Uptown Square buildings which exist today. The craftsmanship and artistry of those Uptown Square buildings reflects the ornate pavilions of the Exposition.

For over a century, Uptown has been a popular Chicago entertainment district, which played a significant role in ushering in the Gilded Age, the Lyceum Movement, the jazz age, the silent film era, the swing era, the big band era, the rock and roll era, has been a filming location for over 480 movies, has ties to significant spectator sport athletes and organizations, including the Chicago Blackhawks and three Olympic figure skaters, as well as theater, comedy clubs, dance performers who later became nationally famous, and even "The People's Music School," a needs-based, tuition-free music school for formal classical music training.

By the 1950s, the middle class was leaving Uptown for more distant suburbs, as commuter rail and elevated train lines were extended. Uptown's housing stock was aging, and old mansions were subdivided. Residential hotels which had housed wives of sailors attached to the Great Lakes Naval Station during World War II now served low-income migrants from the South and Appalachia. Uptown developed a reputation as "Hillbilly Heaven" during the 1950s and 1960s. The Council of the Southern Mountains, headquartered in Berea, Kentucky launched the Chicago Southern Center in 1963 in Uptown, with help from Chicago philanthropist W. Clement Stone. Chicago's anti-poverty program opened the Montrose Urban Progress Center. Students for a Democratic Society initiated a community organizing project, JOIN (Jobs or Income Now) in 1963. Large-scale urban renewal projects like Harry S. Truman College eliminated much low-cost housing, and the low-income Southern white residents dispersed. New waves of Asian, Hispanic, and African-American migrants moved into the remaining neighborhoods.

Latinos forced out from other near downtown and lakefront areas by urban renewal settled close to the border with Lakeview at Sheridan, near Irving Park. In 1975 Young Lords founder Jose (Cha-Cha) Jimenez joined with a broad coalition of whites, blacks and Latinos and ran unsuccessfully against Daley-sponsored Christopher Cohen. They still were able to garner 39% of the vote. His main campaign issue was housing corruption, which was then displacing Latinos and the poor from prime real estate areas of Chicago.

Buena Park is a neighborhood bounded by Montrose Avenue, Irving Park Road, Graceland Cemetery and Lake Shore Drive. The core of the neighborhood is very suburban with driveways and spacious lots. It is in sharp contrast to the skyscrapers that populate the area around it. It can be accessed from the Sheridan stop on the CTA's Red Line.

Today, many people assume that Buena Park is a "new name" given to this part of Uptown by developers trying to give the area a better name (like those trying to call Humboldt Park "West Bucktown"). In reality, Robert A. Waller developed Buena Park starting in 1887 by subdividing his property. The original Waller home is now the site of St. Mary of the Lake church (built in 1917). Buena Park pre-dates the remainder of Uptown by a number of years. Buena Park is also home to one of the most active neighborhood organizations in Chicago: Buena Park Neighbors.

"The Delectable Ballad of the Waller Lot" by Chicago poet Eugene Field:

Up yonder in Buena Park There is a famous spot, In legend and in history (Known as) the Waller lot.

Sheridan Park is a neighborhood bounded by Lawrence Avenue on the north, Clark on the west, Montrose on the south and Broadway on the east. It is mostly residential, containing six-flats, single family homes, and courtyard apartment buildings. There is a growing business district along Wilson Avenue, which bisects Sheridan Park from Broadway to Clark. Truman College, one of the City Colleges of Chicago, is also located in Sheridan Park. The neighborhood can be accessed from either the Wilson or Lawrence stop on the CTA's Red Line.

In 1985, the Sheridan Park Historic District (a National Landmark District) was established to protect the unique single family and smaller multi-family architecture of the area. Some structures of Uptown Square were also added as contributing structures. In 2007, the Sheridan Park area along Dover Street was also registered as an historic district. Many of the homes along Dover are large single family homes from the early 1900s.

Margate Park forms the eastern border of Uptown and Edgewater, nestled between the recently revitalized strip of new construction on Sheridan Rd. and the pleasantries of the Lincoln Park northern reaches. Its tree-lined streets, historic mansions, and gilded mid-rises reflect the area's development in the bustle of Uptown Chicago's burgeoning entertainment industry in the early 1900s. The diverse housing also includes ornate, terra-cotta clad hotels, immortalized in movies as Chicago Gangster Era apartment hotels. Some of these 1920s Jazz Age hotels have been since been converted to SROs in the area to provide transitional and supportive housing, adding to the tremendously diverse population of the area.

This lakefront neighborhood is home to Margate Fieldhouse, a gym and fitness facility. The area around the fieldhouse is an official off-leash area in the city for dogs. Annual city permits are required for dogs using the areas. The fieldhouse is also host to the Margate Playground, with 1,400 square feet (130 m2) of playspace for children. Artists Jim Brenner, Corinne D. Peterson, Ginny Sykes, and Roman Villareal created a unique space reflecting the urban locale catering to children's interests and local fauna.

Andersonville of Uptown has been identified as many different names over the years. Its borders are Lawrence to the south, Broadway to the East, Clark to the west, and Foster to the north. Andersonville Terrace, or SOFO (South of Foster) are names often given to the area by those who wish to identify more closely with the part of the neighborhood that borders Andersonville. However, the area is rich in Uptown history, claiming Essanay Studios, The Green Mill, a 1930s US Post Office, and the Uptown Theater as major landmarks.

Historically a very popular tourist destination, the Uptown Entertainment District is home to various music venues, nightclubs, restaurants and shops. The Uptown Entertainment District is now experiencing a revival, with new restaurants and shops opening every year. Uptown Square, at the center of the Uptown Entertainment District, was designated as a National Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. Uptown is also a stop for Chicago Gangster tours, with many locations tied to infamous gangsters such as John Dillinger, Al Capone, Machine Gun Jack McGurn, Roger "The Terrible" Touhy and others.

Located in Uptown, The Aragon Ballroom is still a very popular music venue. During the 1920s and 1930s, most of the nation's well-known jazz groups played the Aragon. Live radio broadcasts from the Aragon helped promote the Aragon's entertainers throughout the Midwest and beyond. Hotels quickly sprang up in the Uptown area, and it became a mecca for young adults who visited Chicago to dance to the Big Bands of the 1940s and 1950s. Frank Sinatra, Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Lawrence Welk, Guy Lombardo, Wayne King and other famous bandleaders often played there. In decades to follow, a very diverse selection of "big name" groups have performed, including The Rolling Stones, U2, The Smiths, The Doors, Snoop Dogg, Green Day, The Kinks, The Smashing Pumpkins, Dr. John, B.B. King, Uriah Heep, Metallica, Tommy Bolin, Black Sabbath, The Clash, Tangerine Dream, Slayer, Motörhead, Nirvana, The Ramones and many others.

The Aragon Ballroom is located at the intersection of Lawrence and Winthrop Avenues, just adjacent to the Lawrence Red Line 'L' stop.

The Riviera Theater, also a popular music venue, was once a Jazz Age movie palace which featured live jazz performances with the movies. In the 1970s, the seats were removed on the main floor and it was converted to a concert venue.

The Uptown Theatre is a large, ornate movie palace with almost 4,500 seats. The largest in Chicago, this architectural gem is on several Landmark Registers. The Uptown Theatre was designed by famous movie palace architects, Rapp and Rapp, who also designed the Chicago Theatre in the Chicago Loop. It was managed by the Balaban and Katz Company.

The Uptown Theatre is currently closed and in a state of decay, but efforts have been made by Friends of the Uptown and other local groups to halt deterioration, restore and reopen the theater. Progress was stymied for years by various legal issues, including disputes by multiple mortgage holders and city liens. However, on August 18, 2008, the Uptown Theatre was sold to Jam Productions Ltd, a Chicago-based music promoter. Jam Productions plans to restore the building and will seek development funds from the City of Chicago to help with this effort.

The Green Mill Jazz Club, on the site of a much bigger Green Mill Gardens complex, which was an outdoor music gardens fashioned after The Moulin Rouge Gardens in Paris. It was a sunken gardens area, surrounded by a wall and featured nightly entertainment during the summer months. It also featured a dining room which was later converted to the Green Mill Cocktail Lounge during construction of the Uptown Theatre on the former site of the outdoor music gardens. The club was once owned by "Machine Gun" Jack McGurn, a right-hand man of Al Capone, who was a regular patron at The Green Mill. The 1957 movie The Joker Is Wild is based on the life of a regular performer at the Green Mill, Joe E. Lewis. Starring Frank Sinatra, the movie is the story about how Lewis tried to leave his gig at the Green Mill and was attacked and left for dead in his apartment. Lewis survived and continued his successful career in California. The Green Mill Jazz Club still hosts top jazz performers. Patricia Barber, internationally acclaimed jazz performer, plays there most Monday nights, as she has for the past 15 + years. In 2008, Kurt Elling was a regularly featured performer with his current band. The Green Mill also hosts a weekly Poetry Slam. Poet Marc Smith is credited for developing the Poetry Slam, and still hosts the weekly events at the Green Mill.

Investors bought the Moulin Rouge Gardens property and spent one-million dollars to expand the facility. Opened in 1921, Mann's Million Dollar Rainbo Room, named after Fred Mann's wartime service in the U.S. Army's 42nd Infantry or "Rainbow" Division, was said to be the largest nightclub in America, featuring some of the biggest names in Vaudeville and musical entertainment. Larry Fine (actor) was performing there the night he was asked to join The Three Stooges. The Rainbo Room had a revolving stage to allow for continuous entertainment. There was table seating for 2,000 patrons and space on the dance floor for an additional 1,500. Until 1927, WMAQ radio shared the 670 kilohertz frequency with station WQJ, which was owned by the Rainbo and Calumet Baking Powder Company; it broadcast music of the Rainbo's performers as a form of promotion.

In 1927, during prohibition, it was converted to a major casino and sports venue, called the Rainbo Fronton.

In 1934, during the Chicago World's Fair (A Century of Progress), it became French Casino. The French Casino is where John Dillinger spent his birthday, June 22, 1934, a month before he was shot.

In 1939, it became Mike Todd's Theater Cafe, which was a popular dinner theater. Tommy Sutton, the Theater Cafe's choreographer, went on to work with Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington and Nat King Cole, among others. It was also a venue for Championship Wrestling where, in 1955, the first women's tag team wrestling match was held.

In 1957, The Theater Cafe was converted to an ice skating rink, called Rainbo Arena, which was a practice rink for the Chicago Blackhawks including the year they won the 1961 Stanley Cup. The Rainbo Arena was also a training rink for several Olympic figure skaters, housed a pro bowling alley and the original Kinetic Playground music venue.

In the 1960s and thereafter, The Rainbo was a popular late night roller rink until it was torn down for a new housing development called Rainbo Village. When the building was being demolished in 2003, an assortment of human bones and tennis shoes were discovered in what had been the building's basement. How the bones and shoes ended up there has remained unresolved.

Argyle Street, from Sheridan to Broadway and spilling onto Broadway, features Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Laotian, French Vietnamese and Cambodian ethnic restaurants and bakeries. There are also many Asian groceries, shops and trading companies that sell unique Asian merchandise. This area is locally called by many different names, including New Chinatown, North Chinatown, Little Chinatown, Little Saigon, New Saigon, Little Cambodia, Vietnamese Town or Little Vietnam. The surrounding neighborhood, which has attracted Asian immigrants and refugees for the past several decades, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the West Argyle Street Historic District. It is easily reached by the Argyle stop on the Red Line 'L.'

One block east of the Argyle 'L' stop, at the corner of Argyle and Winthrop is The Roots of Argyle mural, a community-produced masterwork depicting 100 years of immigration and daily life on Argyle Street. The over 100 ft (30 m). painting was designed by community members and painted by world famous muralist Br. Mark Elder and his mural students from DePaul University.

The Arcadia Ballroom was one of the first Dance Halls in Chicago. Promoter Paddy Harmon, who later developed Dreamland balllroom and the Chicago Stadium, found that black jazz bands were popular with the Arcadia Ballroom late night crowds. It was one of the few places on the north side of Chicago which would book black jazz bands in the 1920s and 1930s, the other being the Green Mill Jazz Club. The building was destroyed in a fire in the 1950s.

The 5100 Club, at 5100 N. Broadway Avenue, was a nightclub that hosted comedy performances before the advent of television. One regular headliner was Danny Thomas, who was discovered there by the head of the William Morris Agency. Danny would later go on to star in movies and in "Make Room For Daddy", one of the longest running sitcoms in American Television history.

Chicago's Lincoln Park straddles Uptown—providing soccer and athletic fields, a segment of the Chicago lakefront bicycle/running path, Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary ("The Magic Hedge"), a sledding hill, Puptown Dog Park, Wilson Skatepark and Waveland (Marovitz) Golf Course to the south. Also in the Uptown portion of Lincoln Park is Montrose Beach, which includes a dog beach at its northern edge, and Montrose Harbor, a marina for local and transient boaters and home to the Chicago Corinthian Yacht Club.

Two parks, which are inland parts of lakefront Lincoln Park, are located just west of Lake Shore Drive. Called Clarenden Park and Margate Park, each feature athletic fields, children's playgrounds and indoor sports facilities. Chase Park, located on the west side of Clark Street at Leland Avenue, has indoor and outdoor athletic facilities, as well as an outdoor pool and tennis courts.

North Halsted, also called Northalsted by its business association, is a smaller area within the Lakeview East boundaries, bordering the adjacent Wrigleyville enclave. In 1998, then Mayor Richard M. Daley endeavored to create a $3.2 million restoration of the North Halsted Street corridor, and the city erected rainbow pylon landmarks along the route. North Halsted caters to some of Chicago's nightlife; bars, restaurants and nightclubs. The North Halsted area is now home to Center on Halsted (a GLBT community center).

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